From LoveToKnow 1911

DOL, a town of north-western France, in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, 36 m. N. of Rennes on the Western railway. Pop. (1906) 3543 Dol
is situated to the south-west of the rich agricultural district
known as the marsh of Dol, where
marketgardening is especially flourishing. The streets are still
rendered picturesque by houses of the 14th and 15th centuries,
which form deep arcades by the projection of their upper storeys: and, high
above all, rises the grey granite of the cathedral, mainly of the 13th century, which
in the middle
ages ranked as the metropolitan church of all Brittany, and still keeps
fresh the name of Bishop St Samson, who, having fled, as the
legend tells, from the Saxon invaders of England, selected this spot as the site of his
monastery. To the architect it is interesting for the English
character of its design, and to the antiquarian, for its stained-glass
windows of the 13th century, and for the finely sculptured tomb of Bishop Thomas James (d.
1504). About i 2 m. from the town is the pierce de Champ
Dolent, a menhir some 30 ft. in height; not far off stands the
great granite rock of Mont Dol, over 200 ft. in height, surmounted
by the statue and chapel of
Notre-Dame de l'Esperance. Dol has
trade in grain, vegetables and
fruit, tobacco is cultivated in the neighbourhood and
there are saltmarshes. Tanning and leather-currying are carried on in the town.
The town was unsuccessfully besieged by William the Conqueror,
taken by Henry II. in 1164
and by Guy de Thouars in
1204. In 1793 it witnessed the defeat of the republican forces by
the Vendeans who had taken refuge within its walls. The bishopric
established in the 6th century was suppressed in 1790.